The heart of our organization is practitioners who have advised some of the World’s most respected organizations over the past 20 years.
FOUNDER
ALEX MARQUEZ
Alex founded Propellerfish in 2009 and has spent the past 20 years helping complex organizations unlock their potential around innovation in the US, Europe and Asia.
Along the way, Alex has led projects in 25 countries for a mix of multinationals, governments, and social impact organizations.
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Those projects have resulted in a smart phone for the emerging middle class in China and India, a new line of confectionery for Mondelez in Europe, and an innovation partnership with Cisco which has delivered over $100 million in growth. Alex also built our partnership with the Grameen Foundation which helps design financial inclusion programs for bottom of the pyramid consumers in partnership with organizations like JP Morgan, Citi Foundation and Met Life.
After nearly 10 years in Asia, Alex is now based in our London office full-time..
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ENGAGEMENT DIRECTOR
TIM WOOD
Tim joined Propellerfish in 2016 and leads our project management function that keeps increasingly complex projects running smoothly.
Prior to Propellerfish, Tim spent 15 years managing global transformation projects and problem-solving initiatives in Financial and Telecommunication multinationals.
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In that time, he held roles such as Global Head of HR Process Transformation which gave him a keen sense for how to manage complex initiatives and stakeholders in large organizations.
Since joining Propellerfish, Tim has worked on projects across 15 countries and for clients such as Meta, PayPal, Fastly, Shell, PepsiCo and Cisco Systems.
Global to the core, Tim has lived in the US, India and the UK. He is currently based in our London office.
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DIRECTOR
RICHARD MURKIN
Richard brings over 24 years of experience across strategy, innovation, organisational development and human insight to the projects we run at Propellerfish.
Prior to joining, he worked at several organisations on global clients across most sectors.
As a Director at ?What If! he lead projects from insight to proposition for clients in FS, pharma, FMCG, retail and energy.
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He also developed innovation strategies for clients including Bayer, ViiV Healthcare, Centrica, Heineken, BBC Worldwide, BT, Shell and Astra Zeneca. He developed and delivered new IP around innovation culture, including leadership, experimentation and training.
At Mind Gym, Richard was EMEA Head of Creative, overseeing a team of behavioural scientists developing programmes to help organisations unlock potential through behaviour change, learning and development.
Richard is based in our London office.
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CONSULTANT
SARA CLOSE
Sara approaches every project with a strong grounding in human centric thinking, a passion for getting the most out of the people around her and the sharp ability to translate insights into action.
Prior to joining Propellerfish, Sara spent 15 years working as a strategist in both the private and public sector.
She joined Propellerfish in 2020 and has since worked on a range of projects for organizations like Meta and Fastly focused on a breadth of topics ranging from Artificial Intelligence to employee experience.
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In a world of work from anywhere forever, Sara is based in Missoula, Montana.
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STRATEGIST
JON FORTUNATI
Jon is a multifaceted consultant whose skills straddle design and strategy.
For over 10 years, Jon has helped global organizations unveil unexplored opportunities and develop innovative products and services across Asia, Europe and America.
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From organic snacks and drinks for one of the largest food corporation in China, to robotic lawn mowers for the Northern European market. During his career at Continuum and as an independent consultant, he had the chance to work with clients of the likes of P&G, PepsiCo, Carrefour, Samsung and Haier, among others.
Since joining Propellerfish, Jon has helped a food and drink multinational invent new snack and drink categories, he has helped Cisco Systems driving up sales by supporting their customers in the digital transformation journey, and worked on several projects for tech, fintech and FMCG companies.
Jon has lived in China, Italy and the UK and and he is now based in our London office.
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PROJECt MANAGER (SINGAPORE)
DARSHINI PILLAI
Darshini has worked with Propellerfish since 2014 and a magician at making all of the details surrounding our projects seamlessly fall into place.
In her time at Propellerfish, Darsh has organised research in over 20 countries across projects for a range of companies including Meta, Cisco Systems, Shell, PayPal, and PepsiCo.
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Darshini is based in Singapore but regularly helps us manage projects around the world.
She will modestly downplay her language skills but between us, she’s fluent in English and Tamil (and is conversant in Mandarin).
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SENIOR STRATEGIST
JESSICA WANG
Jessica is a human centred design expert with 15 years of experience unlocking growth for businesses around the world.
Prior to Propellerfish, Jessica worked at ?What If! Innovation and most recently Continuum in Shanghai where she led a range of projects, many with a deep focus on China.
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At Propellerfish, Jessica has helped make Artificial Intelligence feel more human, invented soft drinks for Gen Z and helped develop a new wellness brand in for the US market.
Jessica was born in Taiwan, raised in LA, and currently calls Shanghai home. She is fluent in English and Mandarin.
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PROJECT MANAGER
MOYA KEENAN
Moya is a project manager at Propellerfish where she helps our team manage the logistics around complex global projects.
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A native Londoner, Moya is based in our UK office and helps us run projects across the globe.
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VIDEO EDITOR
DAPHNE GOMEZ-MENA
Passionate about the study of the human condition and drawn to a creative visual style, Daphne Gomez-Mena found her perfect match in the art of video editing.
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With over 17 years of experience in post production, her diverse portfolio of work includes independent documentaries, part scripted films, corporate projects, doc series work for networks such as VICE, A&E, Discovery, National Geographic, HGTV, and more.
She is accustomed to working on fast-paced projects where deadlines are a priority and is well equipped to handle multiple responsibilities.
Possessing a clear vision and a strong commitment to producing dynamic work, Daphne is a great asset to Propellerfish team when it comes to bringing insights and user stories to life through vivid and highly engaging videos.
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FILM MAKER
JAHA BROWNE
Jessica is a bilingual innovation strategist with 10 years experience in consulting and agency roles.
In her 13 years of living in China and working across the APAC region, she has worked to translate consumer needs into growth strategies and new offerings for multinational corporations as well as local brands.
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During that time, Jessica has helped to innovate packaged foods and beverages for Kraft, Mondelez, Pepsi, and Wrigley’s, identify future category needs for Estee Lauder, and explore opportunities for Philips medical devices in hospital emergency care units. At Grey Advertising, she was responsible for managing GSK’s consumer healthcare category portfolio, including brand repositioning and new product development for Fenbid, Contac, and Zyrtec.
Since joining Propellerfish in 2012, Jessica continues her passion for consumer insights and product innovation, with recent focus on premiumizing brand offerings for China’s emerging middle class.
She now splits her time between Shanghai and Hong Kong.
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